Residents in the small municipality of Northern Ontario, Fauquier-Stickland, face a possible increase in the 80 percent property tax this year as the community works to get out of a financial deficit.
At a council meeting on Tuesday, Craig Davidson, a consultant brought to help the community, proposed the increase in taxes as a way for the community of around 500 people to cover an operational deficit of $ 2.5 million and retain its six employees.
On July 29, the province offered the municipality $ 300,000 in the Condition Council, approved a new budget before August 31.
At the Council meeting, Davidson said he only received six hours to gather a budget for the municipality.
“I remembered yesterday that there were $ 300,000 [from the province]”, said.
At the beginning of July, the mayor of Fauquier-Stickland, Madeleine Tremblay, said the municipality would need to close services such as garbage collection before August 1 if the province did not intervene with financial support.
At that time, the Council also proposed a tax increase of up to 200 percent to pay the municipality deficit and cover basic services.
But Davidson’s proposal for an 80 percent increase, on the other hand, was not well received by residents.
“They are trying to put a budget that no one can pay,” said Donald Armstrong, who attended the Council meeting on Tuesday.
Nobody wants to move to a municipality that is literally on the verge of bankruptcy.– Donald Armstrong
Armstrong said that most people in the small community are retired and in fixed income.
He said he has been trying to sell his home, but that failed when news about Fauquier-Strickland’s financial problems broke.
“So now my wife and I are trapped here because we can’t sell the house,” Armstrong said. “Nobody wants to move to a municipality that is literally on the verge of bankruptcy.”
Alan and Dawn Gosnay moved to Fauquier-Stickland in December, attracted by lower housing costs and the opportunity to live closer to their grandchildren.
When the New Year arrived, Alan Gosnay said his property taxes went from around $ 2,300 per year to $ 5,600.
Gosnay said that another tax increase in addition to what he is already paying would be devastating.
“They could also take an excavator to the city,” he said, frustrated with the financial situation of the municipality.
Community members are planning a meeting on Wednesday night to discuss possible solutions and bring new questions to the Council before the budget vote.
Tammy Daigle has lived in Fauquier-Stickland for 33 years and is one of the organizers of the meeting.
“We are often closed with questions and when we ask questions, they get overlooked,” he said.
Daigle said that a tax increase of 80 percent would make it impossible for her and her husband withdraw in the short term.
My husband is on illness at this time waiting for surgery, but it retired and that changes that plan, “he said.
